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Cherie Sharrock

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K-Wine’s Afternoon Drive Time is the vehicle for Cherie Sharrock. Her early years in radio were as Program and Music Director for the Mendocino County Alternative radio station KLLK, were she worked from 1985 to 1993. Leading up to her position as PD/MD, she wore about every hat possible in radio including sales, production, on-air personality, PSA director, and trafficking of commercials.

Cherie was born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, but spent some of her younger years in Spain and on the East Coast while her dad served in the Air Force. Music has been a huge part of Cherie’s life since birth. Her father plays several instruments, primarily guitar, has taught classical guitar lessons for a number of years, and is best known for performing flamenco guitar. And, although her mother never pursued a career in music, she still remembers her mother’s beautiful voice ringing through the house while growing up. Cherie herself is a professional vocalist, performing with several groups over the years in many styles of music. Some of her ventures include opening for Gregg Allman with avant-garde, rock/opera band 3 B-Infinity, fronting the funk/Motown/rock band Groove Approved, and she currently is the lead singer for Samba Jamba, in which she sings both in English and Portuguese performing standards, Latin jazz, and swing.

Here is Cherie's story in her own words:

The creative aspects of radio are what I enjoy the most: writing and producing commercials, along with keeping up with the latest new music through publications like the R & R and Blender. It’s always exciting to hear the latest release from one of your favorite artists and checking it out for the first time, often before it’s been released to the public. Discovering a cool new band or artist is very rewarding as well, which is probably why I’m so hooked on reality shows like American Idol and Rockstar, I love rooting for my favorites, buying their albums, and then seeing them perform live. For the record, Kelley Clarkson, Chris Daughtry and David Cook were some of my favorites on American Idol, and on Rockstar: INXS I was voting for Marty Casey all the way! On Rockstar: Supernova my favorite was Dilana with Lukas close behind.

I love promoting local talent and music events on my show. In 2008, my “Partner in Crime”, Mary Chadwick and I, put on our first Rising Stars Competition to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Ukiah. We had a total of 16 groups or soloists compete, and 2 featured bands perform. I also handle the bookings for various local venues and musicians. And for several years I have acted as either judge or emcee in local competitions including “Ukiah Idol” put on by Ukiah Civic Light Opera and the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds, and “Band Slam in the Plaza” presented by the Ukiah Music Center.

I like music with an edge, music with a melody, and with great lyrics. I live for lyrics, and have memorized words to literally hundreds of songs in almost every genre. If you ever need the name or artist of a song, just call me and hum a few bars or recite a few words and I’ll more than likely have it for you! One day I hope to put this to use and be a contestant on Wayne Brady’s “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”, hopefully bringing home the big money!

My musical taste is extremely eclectic, I love funk, alternative, techno, punk, old R & B from the 60’s and 70’s, classical, jazz, reggae, bluegrass, and of course rock! My early years growing up in San Francisco were spent listening to a lot of funk R & B and soul such as Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Ohio Players. During my Junior High and High School years in Santa Clara, it was all about the rock baby, with my favorite being Led Zeppelin along with AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Montrose, Pat Benetar, and Yes (my first concert), and later groups like The Cult, Living Colour, Jane’s Addiction & Faith No More. My adult years gained an appreciation for jazz with such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Sergio Mendes, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. What’s in my CD player right now? Who knows…could be just about anything!

E-mail Cherie